Tiers are a simple but effective way of plotting out a draft strategy that assures you won't fall behind at any position while maximizing your return on every pick. They serve as an alternate form of rankings that groups players by expected level of production, denoting the points in the rankings where the most significant drop-offs occur. In the heat of a draft, you'll know which position to target by observing which one is closest to having its current tier depleted.
Below are the catcher tiers for 2020. They depict a weak position that nonetheless offers some surprising depth in the middle, enough that you shouldn't have to pay a premium to get a quality option there. We broke down the position on our catcher preview on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast, with a special focus on which of those lower-end options we're highest on, like Wilson Ramos, Danny Jansen, and Sean Murphy:
The Elite: J.T. Realmuto, Gary Sanchez
The Near-Elite: Willson Contreras, Yasmani Grandal, Mitch Garver
The Next-Best Things: Will Smith, Salvador Perez
The Fallback Options: Carson Kelly, Wilson Ramos, Christian Vazquez, Omar Narvaez, Sean Murphy
The Last Resorts: Yadier Molina, Francisco Mejia, Danny Jansen
The Deep-Leaguers: Tom Murphy, Travis d'Arnaud, Buster Posey, Jorge Alfaro, Kurt Suzuki, Roberto Perez, Robinson Chirinos
The Leftovers: James McCann, Jason Castro, Joey Bart, Willians Astudillo, Pedro Severino, Yan Gomes, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Mike Zunino, Tucker Barnhart, Austin Allen, Josh Phegley, Tyler Flowers, Chance Sisco, Reese McGuire, Jacob Stallings, Austin Hedges
